THE  CAUSES  OF  ELIMINATION 


IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 

BY 

FRANK  JAMES  DUFRAIN 
A.  B.  University  of  Illinois 
1916 


THESIS 

Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Requirements  for  the 

Degree  of 

MASTER  OF  ARTS 
IN  EDUCATION 

IN 

THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 
OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1922 


1922 

DB7 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 

THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 


July  Z1 1 92-  2 


I HEREBY  RECOMMEND  THAT  THE  THESIS  PREPARED  UNDER  MY 

supervision  by Frank  J ame s JDuF rain 

ENTITLED The  Causes  of  Eliminaiioir  Tn-El^h --School- 


BE  ACCEPTED  AS  FULFILLING  THIS  PART  OF  THE  REQUIREMENTS  FOR 


THE  DEGREE 


of  Jtrfs 


In  Charge  of  Thesis 


Recommendation  concurred  in* 


Committee 

on 

Final  Examination* 


•Required  for  doctor’s  degree  but  not  for  master  s 


509414 


THE  CAUSES  OF  ELIMINATION 
IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 


By 

FRANK  JAMES  DU  FRAIN 
A.  B.  University  of  Illinois 
1916 

THESIS 

Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment 
of  the  Requirements  for  the 

Degree  of 

MASTER  OF  ARTS 
IN  EDUCATION 
In 

THE  GRADUATE  SCHOOL 
Of  The 

UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 


1932 


1 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

I Introduction  Page  3 

A.  The  Importance .of  the  Subject  Page  2 

B.  Other  Recent  Studies  Relating  to  This  Subject  Page  3 

1.  Van  Denburg's  Study  of  Causes  of  Elimination  Page  3 

2.  O'Brien's  Study  of  High  School  Failures  Page  7 

II  Sources  of  Data  Page  10 

III  Reliability  of  the  Bata  Page  11 

IV  A Study  of  the  Bata  Page  11 

A.  A Study  of  the  High  School  Office  Records  Page  11 

B.  A Study  of  the  Questionnaires  from  the  Pupils  Page  27 

V Conclusions  Page  4S 

VI  Bibliography  Page  53 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2015 


https://archive.org/details/causesofeliminatOOdufr 


3 


THE  CAUSES  OF  ELIMINATION  IN  HIGH  SCHOOL 
I Introduction 

A.  The  Importance  of  the  Subject 

The  problem  of  elimination  of  pupils  from  high  school 
will  undoubtedly  always  be  an  important  one.  At  least  so  long  as 
some  schools  have  a high  percentage  of  elimination  and  others  a low 
one,  the  subject  will  be  studied.  The  statistical  report  of  ac- 
credited high  schools  for  the  school  year  of  1917-1918, 1 made  by  the 
Commissioner  of  Education,  shows  that  the  enrollment  in  the  tenth 
grade  is  one  third  less  than  the  enrollment  of  the  ninth  grade;  that 
the  eleventh  grade  has  less  than  one  half  of  the  number  in  the  ninth 
grade;  and  that  the  twelfth  grade  has  about  two  fifths  as  many  en- 
rolled as  the  ninth  grade.  This  record  is  for  the  best  secondary 
schools  in  the  United  States,  and  of  course  the  record  of  the  partly 
accredited  and  non-accredited  high  schools  is  worse.  Surely  this 
great  elimination  is  a challenge  to  the  administrators  of  the  public 
high  schools  of  the  United  States,  where  over  one  hundred  millions 
of  dollars  are  spent  annually  for  public  secondary  education.  It 
is  doubtful  whether  any  private  business  could  exist  if  it  were  ef- 
fective only  to  the  same  degree  as  the  public  high  school.  At  any 
rate  if  such  a startling  less  as  occurs  in  the  efficiency  of  second- 

^Bonner,  H.  R.,  Statistics  of  Public  High  Schools,  1917-18,  Bulletin 
Iio.  19,  1930,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 


% 


- 


■ 


• ■ 


3 


ary  education,  shown  by  the  amount  of  elimination,  were  found  in 
business  interests  and  were  reported  to  the  officials  in  charge  of 
those  interests,  an  investigation  into  the  causes  for  the  loss  of  ef- 
ficiency would  result.  Surely  the  effectiveness  of  our  high  schools 
is  of  sufficient  importance  to  merit  a like  investigation. 

B.  Other  Recent  Studies  Relating  to  this  Subject 

Recently  there  have  been  two  very  important  investiga- 
tions of  elimination  in  high  schools,  one  by  Joseph  K.  Van  Denburg1 

o 

and  the  other  by  Francis  P.  O'Brien.  Since  Van  Denburg 's  study 
was  the  first  thorough  effort  to  study  secondary  school  elimination 
on  a large  scale  and  since  it  paved  the  way  for  later  investigations, 
the  significant  facts  of  his  contribution  to  the  problem  are  given 
here  in  considerable  detail. 

1.  Van  Denburg' s Study  of  the  Causes  of  Elimination. 

In  February,  1SCS,  Joseph  K.  Van  Denburg  had  1100  pupils 
entering  high  schools  in  New  York  City  fill  out  the  questionnaire 

which  follows: 

1. 

Last  name.  First  name.  Initial;'  'School . ~Year  of  "Birth.  Month."  Day/  " 
2. 

' Number.  Street'  / ' B'orough. 

3 .' __ 

From  Grade  School.  Number.  B’orough.  Father's  Business/  "Father ' s ' 

Nationality, 

■Kan  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 

O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures. 


/ •-  - 


What  do  you  intend  do-  Are  four  years  in  high  school  necessary? 
ing  for  a living? 

(3) ... 

Do  you  intend  to  stay  four  years? 

5.  _ 

Older  Brothers  and  Sisters.  Age.  What  are  they  doing? 

6.  _ _ 

?. 

8.. _____ 

S. __ 

Height.  ’ Weight.  What  serious  illness  have  you  had?"  When? 

10. _ 

Do  you  have  severe  headaches?  How  frequently?  Do  you  wear  glasses? 

Tabulations  were  made  of  the  answers  to  the  questionnaires 
and  compared  with  the  facts  later,  i.  e.  whether  the  pupils  were 
eliminated  or  graduated  from  high  school.  From  this  data  the  fol- 
lowing conclusions  were  drawn  by  Van  Denburg: 

1.  Nearly  one  third  of  the  group  was  eliminated  at  the  end  of  the 
first  term;  nearly  one  half  was  eliminated  at  the  end  of  the  first 

year. 

'3.  Approximately  57  per  cent  of  the  boys  and  S3  per  cent  of  the 
girls  who  graduated  from  the  eighth  grade  entered  high  school. 

3.  Fourteen  and  one-half  years  is  the  age  at  which  the  greatest 
number  of  pupils  enter  high  school. 

4.  The  most  successful  elementary  pupils  comprise  about  one  third 
of  the  entering  high  school  classes. 

5.  Hebrews  excell  all  other  races  in  their  appreciation  and  use  of 
New  York  City  high  schools. 

6.  Children  whose  parents  are  city  .and  government  employees  U3e  the 


5 


high  schools  most,  those  of  semi-professional  parents  next. 

7.  Of  the  boys  33  per  cent  chose  some  form  of  engineering  as  a pro- 
fession, 17  per  cent  business,  and  11  per  cent  law.  Teaching  as 
a profession  was  chosen  by  more  girls  than  all  other  professions 
combined. 

8.  Pupils  chose  40  occupations  while  their  brothers  and  sisters 
were  in  160  occupations. 

8 . Pupil3  should  not  be  kept  in  school  beyond  the  point  where  the 
high  school  work  and  life  is  surely  of  benefit  to  them.  Short 
courses  should  be  offered  to  those  pupils  who  will  surely  drop  out. 

10.  One  fifth  of  the  group  entering  high  school  had  decided  not  to 
graduate  when  they  entered,  while  one  fourth  more  had  no  set  de- 
termination to  complete  the  course. 

11.  Pupils  who  are  determined  to  stay  in  school  usually  elect  Latin 
or  German. 

12.  The  average  rental  of  the  430  homes  which  were  visited  was  $15, 
while  for  graduates  it  was  $20.  Judging  from  the  rentals,  the 
high  school  curriculum  is  not  meeting  the  needs  of  most  of  its  pu- 
pils, for  very  few  can  afford  to  complete  professional  courses, 
and  the  high  school  training  is  largely  preparation  for  college. 

13.  In  four  years  three  fourths  of  the  pupils  are  eliminated.  Of 
the  remaining  one  fourth,  about  one  half  graduate  on  time  and  the 
other  half  remain  as  retarded  pupils. 

14.  Pupils  entering  high  school  before  they  are  fourteen  years  of 
age  do  better  than  those  entering  later. 

15.  The  older  pupils  leave  school  early,  and  in  many  cases  they • 
would  stay  to  complete  short  courses  if  some  were  offered. 

16.  A pupil  with  some  definite  trade  or  occupation  in  mind  remains 
in  school  longer  than  the  others. 


6 


17.  The  economic  status  is  only  a slight  factor  in  the  stay  in 
school . 

18.  Thirteen  is  the  best  age  at  which  to  enter  high  school  so  far  as 
staying  qualities  are  concerned. 

19.  Two  thirds  of  the  boys  who  were  ranked  as  better  than  average  in 
ability  were  not  in  the  graduating  group. 

30.  Pupils  in  the  upper  one  third  of  the  group  so  far  as  ability  is 
concerned  are  more  likely  to  graduate  than  those  in  the  lower  two 
thirds  of  the  group. 

31.  Pupils  who  find  no  difficulty  in  their  school  work  leave  in  large 
numbers. 

23.  If  all  boys  who  failed  to  get  a mark  of  at  least  50  per  cent  for 
their  first  semester's  work  were  at  once  expelled,  the  number  of 
graduates  would  not  be  lessened,  for  these  boys  are  eliminated 
anyhow. 

33.  At  least  75  per  cent  of  the  pupils  who  enter  have  the  native 
ability  to  graduate  if  they  choose  to  apply  themselves. 

24.  A pupil  who  is  the  youngest  child  has  a better  chance  than  the 

older  children. 

Briefly,  according  to  Van  Denburg,  early  elimination  is 

favored  by: 

1.  Late  entering  age. 

2.  Younger  brothers  or  sisters. 

3.  A childhood  free  from  serious  illness. 

4.  Foreign-born  parentage  of  Irish,  Austro-Hungarian,  Scotch, 
or  Italian  stock. 

5.  Choice  of  business  for  boys  and  stenography  for  girls. 

6.  A disbelief  in  the  value  of  a high  school  course. 


7 


7.  An  uncertainty  as  to  probable  length  of  stay,  or  a determi- 
nation to  leave  early. 

On  the  other  hand,  elimination  does  not  seem  to  be 
greatly  increased  by  eye  strain  or  frequent  headaches,  nor  is  there 
evidence  that  poverty  causes  early  elimination. 

2.  O’Brien's  Study  of  High  School  Failures. 

Francis  P.  O’Brien  made  a study  of  the  failures  and 
elimination  of  6,141  pupils  belonging  to  eight  different  high 


from  the  high  school  records,  and  in  order  that  he  might  get  the 
complete  records  for  all  pupils  for  their  full  time  in  high  school, 
O'Brien  studied  the  records  for  a period  of  six  years  where  neces- 
sary . 


to  the  subject  of  this  thesis  are: 

1.  Of  the  graduating  pupils,  58.1  per  cent  fail  one  or  more  times. 

2.  Of  the  non-failing  non-graduates,  78  per  cent  are  lost  from 
school  by  the  end  of  their  first  year. 

3.  The  percentage  of  pupils  failing  increases  for  the  first  four 
semesters,  and  lowers  but  little  for  two  more  semesters.  One 
third  to  one  half  of  the  pupils  fail  in  each  semester  to  the 
seventh. 

4.  Thirty-four  per  cent  of  the  failures  occur  after  the  second 
year,  when  52.2  per  cent  of  the  pupils  have  been  lost  and  others 
are  leaving  continuously. 

5.  Mathematics,  Latin,  and  English  head  the  list  in  the  percentages 
of  total  failures,  and  together  provide  nearly  60  per  cent  of  the 


schools  in  New  York  and  New  Jersey. 


Some  of  the  conclusions  reached  by  O'Brien  which  relate 


8 


failures . 

8.  For  the  pupils  dropping  out  without  failure,  the  median  age  is 
at  16,  with  the  mode  at  15.  For  the  failing  drop-out 3 both  the 
median  and  the  mode  are  at  the  age  of  17.  Nearly  50  per  cent  of 
the  non-failing  drop-outs  occur  under  the  age  of  16,  but  not  20 
per  cent  of  the  failing  non-graduates  are  gone  by  that  age.  The 
percentage  of  drop-outs  is  higher  for  older  pupils. 

7.  The  first  year’ 3 record  has  real  prognostic  value  for  pupils  per- 
sisting more  than  three  semesters,  but  57  per  cent  of  those  leav- 
ing earlier  have  no  failures.  This  includes  nearly  60  per  cent 
of  all  the  non-failing  pupils,  but  less  than  32  per  cent  of  the 
failing  ones  have  gone  that  early. 

3.  Prediction  of  failure  by  subjects  is  relatively  easy  and  sure, 
and  the  later  years  seem  more  productive  of  this  result ... .Fifty- 
six  per  cent  of  the  failures  for  the  graduates  occur  after  the 
second  year.  The  longer  stay  in  school  actually  begets  an  in- 
crease in  failures.  The  boys  and  girls  are  similarly  affected  by 
these  factors  of  prognosis. 

9.  The  percentages  of  the  failing  pupils  who  graduate  and  of  the 
non-failing  pupils  who  graduate  are  identical,  31.5  per  cent. 

10.  The  non-failing  non-graduates  do  not  persist  long  in  school,  com- 
pared with  the  failing  non-graduates.  The  short  persistence  partly 
accounts  for  their  avoidance  of  failure. 

11.  For  11.5  per  cent  of  the  non-graduates  who  fail  in  50  per  cent  or 
more  of  their  work,  failure  is  probably  a chief  cause  of  dropping 
out . 

12.  Failure  is  probably  not  a prime  cause  of  dropping  out  for  most 

of  tne  non-graduates,  as  80  per  cent  have  only  5 failures  or  fewer. 


9 

13.  The  number  of  drop-out3  does  not  tend  to  increase  as  the  number 
of  failures  per  pupil  increases. 

14.  The  pupils  who  lack  native  ability  sufficient  for  the  work  are 
not  a large  number. 

15.  The  early  elimination  of  pupils,  the  number  that  fail,  and  the 
notable  cases  of  non-success  in  school  are  evidence  of  something 
v/rong  with  the  kind  of  education  given. 

16.  Properly  selected  student  advisers,  appointed  early,  may  trans- 
form the  school  for  the  pupil,  save  the  pupil  for  the  school,  and 
save  the  pupil's  work  from  failures. 

The  studies  made  by  Van  Denburg  and  O'Brien  as  briefly 
outlined  here  throw  much  light  on  the  problem  of  elimination*  How- 
ever, the  group  studied  by  Van  Denburg  was  so  large  that  he  could 
not  know  the  individuals.  Therefore  the  answers  to  the  question- 

t / 

naires  had  to  be  taken  at  face  value,  and  in  many  cases  no  doubt 
more  reliable  data  could  have  been  secured  had  the  answers  to  the 
questions  been  checked  or  supplemented  by  a knowledge  of  the  person- 
ality of  the  individual,  his  home  conditions,  his  elementary  school 
record,  etc.  Van  Denburg  realized  this  objection  and  recommended 
that  studies  be  made  of  smaller  groups  where  the  investigator  would 
have  the  opportunity  of  knowing  more  about  the  individuals. 

The  same  criticism,  i.  e.,  that  the  group  studied  was 
too  large  and  that  there (was  no  supplementary  data  concerning  the 
home  environment,  the  personality  of  the  individuals,  and  the  history 
of  the  pupils  after  leaving  school,  may  be  made  of  O'Brien's  study 
also.  However,  O'Brien  purposely  avoided  the  disadvantages  of  the 
questionnaire  by  obtaining  all  his  data  from  the  school  records. 


i • 


■ 


10 

It  is,  therefore,  the  purpose  of  this  study,  in  a small 
way  to  attempt  to  combine  the  good  qualities  of  the  work  done  by 
Van  Denburg  and  O’Brien,  with  the  advantage  of  a personal  knowledge 
of  each  individual.  The  group  studied  is  therefore  limited  to  367 
pupils  comprising  the  class  of  entering  freshmen  at  Rockford  High 
School,  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  September,  1916.  The  writer  had 
supervision  over  these  pupils  during  their  entire  stay  in  school, 
and  in  many  cases  he  kept  in  touch  with  them  after  they  were  elimi- 
nated or  were  graduated.  This  personal  knowledge  of  the  individu- 
als studied,  combined  with  information-  taken  from  the  school  rec- 
ords and  from  questionnaires  sent  to  the  pupils  should  give  data 
for  a comprehensive  and  accurate  study  of  the  group. 

It  is  the  particular  task  of  this  study  to  determine  as 
far  as  possible  the  reasons  why  SOI  pupils  from  this  class  of  367 
freshmen  left  school  before  graduation.  From  the  school  records 
the  objective  factors  are  investigated;  and  from  the  replies  of  the 
pupils  themselves,  some  of  the  human  factors  involved  in  the  process 
of  elimination  are  seen.  Naturally  some  factors  are  hard  to  meas- 
ure, but  there  are  many  which  are  easily  measured.  However,  the 
whole  problem  is  complex  in  that  there  may  be  many  factors  causing 
the  elimination  of  a single  individual. 

II  Sources  of  the  Data 

The  data  used  in  this  study  were  taken  from  the  follow- 
ing sources: 

A.  School  records  of  367  pupils  who  entered  Rockford  High 
School  a3  freshmen  (ninth  graders)  at  Rockford,  Illinois,  in 
September,  1916. 


11 


B.  Returned  questionnaires  which  were  sent  in  the  summer  of  1921 
to  this  group  of  367  pupils. 

C.  Results  of  general  intelligence  tests  and  school  records  of 
444  beginning  freshmen  in  Rockford  High  School  in  September,  1919. 

Ill  Reliability  of  the  Data 

As  the  writer  knew  personally  the  group  of  pupils  studied, 
and  as  he  had  planned  to  make  this  study  at  the  time  they  entered 
high  school,  he  was  able  to  secure  the  data  necessary  for  an  investi- 
gation of  this  kind,  and  the  information  obtained  would  therefore 
/ 

seem  to  be  more  accurate  than  that  usually  taken  from  school  records 
and  questionnaires. 

The  questionnaires  were  distributed  after  the  writer  had 
left  Rockford  High  School  and  also  after  the  pupils  had  left.  There 
should  therefore  be  a minimum  of  influences  to  color  the  replies  of 
this  group. 

Inquiries  were  sent  to  every  grade  school  principal  to 
ascertain  from  them  which  reason  they  thought  operative  in  the  case 
of  each  eliminated  pupil  coming  from  their  schools . Since  the  princi- 
pals usually  knew  the  family  and  home  conditions  very  well,  the  in- 
formation received  from  them  was  very  reliable,  and  it  was  used  to 
check  against  the  high  school  records  and  the  questionnaires. 

IV  A Study  of  the  Data 
A.  A Study  of  the  High  School  Office  Records 


The  following  table  shows  the  general  distribution  of  the 


12 

pupils  by  achievement,  giving  the  number  and  percentage  of  boys  and 
girls  in  the  group  of  367  pupils  studied,  who  graduated  on  time, 
graduated  late,  were  still  in  school  in  June,  1921,  or  were  elimina- 
ted. Four  pupils  who  graduated  in  less  than  eight  semesters  are  in- 
cluded with  those  who  graduated  on  time. 

Table  I 

The  Distribution  Over  a Period  of  Five  Years  of  the  Pupils 
Entering  as  Freshmen  in  Rockford  High  School  in  September,  1916 


Entering 
Sept.  '16 


Graduating 
On  Time 


Graduat- 
ing Late 


Total 

Graduating 


Still  in 
School 
June  *21 


Eliminated 


No. 


Per 

cent 


No 


Per 

cent 


No 


Per 

cent 


No 


Per 

cent 


No 


°er 

cent 


No 


Per 

cent 


Boys 


178 


48.5 


51 


28.7 


12 


6.7 


63 


35.4 


4.5 


107 


60.1 


Girls 


189 


51.5 


83 


43.9 


11 


5.8 


94 


49. 7 


.5 


94 


49.7 


Total 


367 


100.0 


134 


36.5 


23 


6.3 


157 


42.8 


2.5 


201 


54.8 


There  were  178  boys  and  189  girls  who  entered  as  fresh- 
men. Of  that  number  107  bO}rs  or  60.1  per  cent,  and  94  girls  or 
49.7  per  cent,  were  eliminated.  Only  28.7  per  cent  of  the  boys  and 

43.9  per  cent  of  the  girls  graduated  in  eight  semesters. 

The  following  table  shows  the  distribution  of  eliminated 
pupils  according  to  their  length  of  stay  in  school. 


. 


13 

Table  II 


The  Number  of  Semesters  of  Attendance 
Completed  by  Eliminated  Pupils 


No.  of  Semesters  Completed 

Number 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

9 

Boys 

107 

97 

76 

48 

35 

17 

12 

4 

3 

0 

Girls 

94 

85 

62 

44 

35 

21 

15 

6 

0 

0 

Total 

201 

182 

138 

92 

70 

38 

27 

10 

3 

0 

Total  Loss  from 
Preceding  Sernest 

19 

er 

44 

46 

22 

32 

11 

17 

7 

3 

Per  cent  of  Loss 

from  | 9.4 

Preceding  Semester 

21.8 

22.9 

10.9 

15.9 

5.5 

8.4 

3.4 

1.5 

Table  II  reads:  Of  the  10?  freshman  boys  9?  completed  the  first 
semester,  76  the  second,  48  the  third,  45  the  fourth,  17  the  fifth, 
12  the  sixth,  4 the  seventh,  3 the  eighth,  and  none  completed  the 

ninth. 


It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  great  loss  of  pupils 
occurred  before  the  fifth  semester  and  that  less  than  half  of  the 
eliminated  pupils  completed  three  semesters  of  work.  There  is  no 
marked  difference  in  elimination  by  semesters  between  the  sexes,  al- 
though a greater  percentage  of  girls  dropped  out  before  the  second 
semester  than  boys.  The  rate  of  elimination  was  about  the  same  as 
that  found  by  O'Brien^'  except  that  the  pupils  in  this  study  were 
eliminated  a little  faster.  The  writer  found  that  31.3  per  cent 
of  the  pupils  eliminated  were  lost  by  the  end  of  the  first  semester 

as  compared  with  33.7  per  cent  in  O’Brien's  study.  A comparison  by 
semesters  follows: 

1 

O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures,  p.  13. 


• t 


14 


Comparison  of  Cumulative  Percentages 
with  O'Brien '3  Study 


Lost  by  End  of  Semester 

1 

2 

3 

4 

5 

6 

7 

8 

This  Study 

31.3 

54.2 

65.1 

81.1 

86.5 

95.0 

98.5 

O'Brien's  Study 

33.7 

53.4 

62.6 

76.2 

81.9 

90.7 

94. 

98.6 

4.  Table  III 

The  Relationship  Between  the  Humber  of  Pupils  Who  Graduated  from 
the  Different  Elementary  Schools  at  Rockford,  Illinois,  in  June, 
1916  and  the  Number  and  Percentage  Who  Entered  High  School  in 
September,  1916. 


No.  Graduated  from 
Elementary  Schools 
June,  1916 

No.  Who  Entered 
High  School 
September,  '16 

Per  Cent  Who  En- 
tered High  School 
September,  '16 

School 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

Blake 

3 

9 

12 

2 

7 

9 

67 

78 

75 

Brown 

5 

9 

14 

4 

8 

12 

80 

89 

86 

Church 

13 

15 

28 

9 

11 

20 

69 

73 

71 

Ellis 

16 

9 

25 

13 

8 

21 

81 

89 

84 

Freeman 

13 

14 

27 

11 

8 

19 

85 

57 

70 

Garrison 

15 

14 

29 

14 

12 

26 

93 

86 

90 

Hall 

13 

9 

22 

13 

8 

21 

100 

89 

95 

Jackson 

15 

19 

34 

11 

15 

26 

73 

79 

76 

Kent 

5 

4 

9 

3 

2 

5 

60 

50 

56 

Kiswaukee 

7 

8 

15 

r» 

b 

6 

12 

86 

75 

80 

Lincoln1 

13 

12 

25 

14 

14 

28 

Montague 

9 

6 

15 

6 

4 

10 

67 

67 

67 

Nelson 

6 

13 

19 

5 

9 

14 

83 

69 

74 

Peterson 

9 

7 

16 

6 

4 

10 

67 

57 

63 

Turner 

8 

11 

19 

6 

8 

14 

75 

73 

74 

Walker 

11 

10 

21 

10 

9 

19 

90 

90 

90 

Wight 

4 

14 

18 

3 

8 

11 

75 

57 

61 

Total 

165 

183 

348 

136 

141 

277 

82 

77 

SO 

In  this  case  several  graduates  from  previous  classes  entered  high 
school  in  September,  1916,  making  the  number  who  entered  high  school 
in  September  greater  than  the  number  who  graduated  from  Lincoln  Sohod 

in  June. 

Table  III  reads:  3 boys  and  9 girls  graduated  from  the  Blake 
Elementary  School  in  June,  1916.  Of  that  number  2 boys,  67  per  cent, 
and  7 girls,  78  per  cent,  entered  high  school  in  the  following 
September . 


15 

The  process  of  elimination  begins  below  the  high  school, 
as  shown  by  the  fact  that  most  of  the  elementary  schools  located  in 
the  wealthier  parts  of  the  city  have  relatively  higher  percentages 
of  their  graduates  going  to  high  school.  This  is  not  without  excep- 
tion, for  the  Kishwaukee  and  Nelson  schools,  for  instance,  are  lo- 
cated in  districts  where  the  percentage  of  foreign-born  parents  is 
high,  while  some  other  schools  located  in  better  environments,  do  not 
rank  as  high.  It  is  possible  for  an  elementary  school  with  a strong 
principal,  a well  organized  faculty,  and  a fine  school  morale,  to 
create  and  perpetuate  an  interest  in  their  graduates  to  go  to  high 
school. 

Table  IV 


The  Distribution  of  Pupils  According  to  Their  Elementary  Schools 
and  the  Number  and  Percentage  from  Each  School  Who  Graduated  or  Who 

Were  Eliminated. 


Elementary 

School 

No.  Pupils 
Who  Entered 
High  School 

No.  Pupils 
Graduated 
or  in  School 
June,  1921 

Per  Cent  Grab 
uated  or  in 
School 
June,  1921 

Number 

Elimi- 

nated 

Per  cent 
Elimi- 
nated 

B 

C- 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G^ 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

Elake 

2 

7 

9 

0 

4 

4 

0 

57 

44 

2 

3 

5 

ICO 

43 

55 

Brown 

4 

8 

12 

3 

3 

6 

75 

38 

50 

1 

5 

6 

25 

62 

50 

Church 

9 

11 

20 

4 

7 

11 

44 

64 

55 

5 

4 

9 

56 

46 

45 

Ellis 

15 

8 

21 

3 

2 

5 

23 

25 

24 

10 

6 

16 

77 

75 

76 

Freeman 

11 

8 

19 

3 

4 

7 

27 

50 

37 

8 

4 

12 

73 

50 

63 

Garrison 

14 

12 

26 

8 

8 

16 

57 

67 

62 

6 

4 

10 

43 

33 

38 

Hall 

13 

8 

21 

6 

6 

12 

46 

75 

57 

7 

2 

9 

54 

25 

43 

Jackson 

11 

15 

26 

4 

7 

11 

36 

47 

42 

7 

8 

15 

63 

53 

58 

Kent 

3 

2 

5 

1 

0 

1 

33 

00 

20 

2 

2 

4 

67 

JD0 

80 

Ki shwaukee 

6 

6 

12 

5 

3 

8 

83 

50 

67 

1 

3 

4 

17 

50 

33 

Lincoln 

14 

14 

28 

11 

8 

19 

78 

57 

68 

3 

6 

9 

21 

43 

32 

Montague 

6 

4 

10 

0 

1 

1 

00 

25 

10 

6 

3 

9 

100 

75 

SO 

Nelson 

5 

9 

14 

1 

4 

5 

20 

44 

36 

4 

5 

9 

80 

55 

64 

Peterson 

6 

4 

10 

2 

0 

2 

33 

00 

20 

4 

4 

8 

67 

ICO 

80 

Turner 

6 

8 

14 

1 

2 

3 

17 

25 

21 

5 

6 

11 

83 

75 

79 

Walker 

10 

9 

19 

5 

6 

11 

50 

67 

58 

5 

3 

8 

50 

33 

42 

Wight  Co 

3 

8 

11 

1 

2 

3 

33 

25 

27 

2 

6 

8 

67 

75 

73 

Winnebago 

15 

19 

34 

6 

13 

19 

40 

68 

56 

9 

6 

15 

60 

32 

44 

Dgle  Co. 

2 

4 

6 

0 

2 

2 

00 

50 

33 

2 

2 

4 

100 

50 

67 

)thers 

25 

25 

50 

7 

13 

20 

28 

52 

40 

18 

12 

30 

72 

48 

60 

Totals 

178 

189 

367 

71 

95 

166 

39 

50 

45 

107 

94 

201 

61 

50 

55 

■ 


' ; 


. 


16 


Table  IV  reads:  Of  the  3 boys  and  7 girls  who  graduated  from 

the  Blake  Elementary  School  in  June,  1S16,  none  of  the  boys  and  4 of 
the  girls  or  57  per  cent  graduated  from  high  school  or  were  still  in 
school  in  June,  1921. 

A study  of  the  percentages  of  graduates  from  the  high 
school  who  came  from  the  different  elementary  schools,  shows  that 
those  elementary  schools  having  50  per  cent  or  more  of  their  pupils 
who  entered  high  school  remain  to  graduate,  are  located  in  the  more 
desirable  residential  parts  of  the  city,  but  it  does  not  follow  that 
the  schools  in  the  most  undesirable  portions  of  the  city  show  the 
lowest  percentages  of  graduation. 

It  is  interesting  to  note  that  the  pupils  who  entered 
from  the  country  schools  rank  well  compared  with  those  from  the  city 
schools.  ho  doubt  the  law  of  the  "survival  of  the  fittest"  may  op- 
erate more  freely  with  regard  to  country  pupils  than  with  regard  to 
city  pupils,  where  the  attendance  laws  are  well  enforced. 


17 


Table  V 

The  Relation  Between  the  Elementary  Schools  of  Rockford,  Illinois 
When  Ranked  According  to  the  Percentage  of  Their  Graduates  Who  En- 
tered High  School  in  One  Year,  and  When  Ranked  According  to  the  Per- 
centage of  These  Pupils  Who  Were  Eliminated  From  High  School  Before 
Graduation. 


Percentage  of  8th  Grade 

Percentage 

of  Pupils  En- 

Rank 

Graduates  June,  1916  Who 

tering  K.  S 

. Sept . , 1916 

Differ 

Entered  H.  S.  Sept., 1916 

Rank 

Who  Were  Eliminated 

ence 

School 

School 

Garrison 

S6 

1 

Lincoln 

25 

4 

Lincoln 

S6 

2 

Kiswaukee 

33 

1 

Hall 

95 

3 

Blake 

40 

3 

Walker 

90 

4 

Walker 

42 

0 

Turner 

89 

5 

Garrison 

43 

11 

Ellis 

88 

6 

Hall 

43 

5 

Blake 

83 

7 

Church 

45 

4 

Kishwaukee 

80 

8 

Brown 

45 

6 

Brown 

7S 

S 

Jackson 

56 

1 

Nelson 

74 

10 

Freemen 

63 

2 

Jackson 

73 

11 

Peterson 

70 

2 

Church 

71 

12 

Nelson 

71 

5 

Freeman 

70 

13 

Wight 

73 

3 

Montague 

67 

14 

Ellis 

77 

3 

Peterson 

63 

15 

Kent 

80 

4 

Wight 

61 

16 

Turner 

82 

3 

Kent 

56 

17 

Montague 

90 

2 

Total 

62 

From  the  above  table,  it  would  seem  that  there  is  some 
correlation  between  the  ability  of  an  elementary  school  to  send  a 
large  percentage  of  its  graduates  to  high  school  and  the  ability  to 
have  a large  percentage  of  these  remain  to  graduate.  Stated  in 
another  way,  the  elementary  school  sending  the  larger  percentage  of 
its  graduates  to  high  school  will  have  the  smaller  percentage  of  elim 
ination  from  high  school  in  that  group. 

Some  of  the  elementary  school  principals  and  teachers 
watched  the  high  school  work  of  their  pupils  very  closely.  If  pupils 
from  their  school  were  failing  or  discouraged  these  teachers  urged 


18 

them  to  continue  and  no  doubt  this  constant  interest  explains  the 
high  rank  in  this  study  of  some  schools  otherwise  less  favored. 

Table  VI 


The  Relationship  Between  Nationality  of 
Father  and  Elimination  from  High  School 


Nationality 

Number 

Number 

Per  Cent 

of  Father 

Entered 

Eli min 

ated 

Eliminated 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

American 

63 

70 

133 

39 

25 

64 

62 

35 

47 

Swedish 

43 

57 

100 

28 

34 

62 

65 

60 

62 

English 

14 

14 

28 

6 

9 

15 

43 

64 

54 

German 

15 

11 

26 

9 

6 

15 

60 

55 

58 

Scotch 

13 

11 

24 

6 

6 

12 

46 

55 

50 

Irish 

7 

7 

14 

5 

4 

9 

71 

57 

64 

Danish 

1 

3 

4 

1 

2 

3 

Norwegian 

2 

2 

4 

1 

1 

2 

French 

3 

0 

3 

3 

0 

3 

African 

0 

2 

2 

0 

1 

1 

Dutch 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

Jewi sh 

2 

C 

2 

0 

0 

0 

Canadian 

0 

2 

2 

0 

2 

2 

Italian 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

Lithuanian 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

Polish 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

Spanish 

0 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

Swiss 

1 

0 

1 

0 

0 

0 

Not  Recorded 

12 

7 

19 

7 

2 

9 

58 

29 

47 

Totals 

178 

189 

367 

107 

94 

201 

60 

50 

55 

In  percentages  at  least,  the  pupils  of  American  fathers 
showed  a better  record,  so  far  as  elimination  from  high  school 
is  concerned,  than  those  pupils  of  Swedish,  English,  German,  Scotch, 
or  Irish  fathers,  but  the  difference  is  not  great  enough  to  boast  of. 
Van  Denburg1  found  that  the  percentage  of  elimination  was  fairly 
evenly  divided  among  the  different  races  represented,  with  the  Irish 
having  the  highest  percentage  of  elimination  (75  per  cent)  and  the 
Germans  next.  The  Americans  ranked  second  as  compared  with  first 

in  this  study.  Van  Denburg  found  no  noticeable  difference  in  the 

■^Van  Denburg,  Joseph  X.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City  


••  I 


' 


- 


. 


19 


sexes,  while  in  this  study  there  is  rather  a marked  difference  in  the 
cases  of  the  American  and  the  English  fathers. 

Table  VII 


The  Age  at  Entrance  of  36?  Pupils  Who  Entered 
Rockford  High  School  as  Freshmen,  September,  1916 


Yrs . 

11 

12 

13 

14 

15 

16 

1? 

18 

Mos. 

B 

Gr 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

Cr 

T 

B 

G 

T 

0 

3 

0 

3 

7 

13 

20 

jr 

9 

14 

4 

1 

5 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

2 

1 

3 

6 

4 

10 

2 

6 

8 

3 

0 

3 

2 

1 

0 

1 

7 

6 

13 

4 

8 

12 

1 

1 

2 

0 

1 

1 

3 

1 

2 

3 

S 

8 

17 

5 

2 

7 

4 

0 

4 

4 

0 

5 

5 

5 

C 

14 

2 

2 

4 

1 

0 

1 

5 

3 

1 

4 

6 

8 

14 

3 

3 

6 

3 

2 

5 

0 

1 

1 

6 

1 

7 

8 

5 

13 

18 

o 

6 

1 

3 

0 

1 

1 

7 

3 

4 

7 

8 

6 

14 

2 

4 

6 

8 

0 

2 

2 

1 

7 

8 

5 

6 

11 

3 

6 

S 

5 

0 

5 

1 

0 

1 

9 

2 

0 

2 

4 

6 

10 

7 

3 

10 

1 

2 

1 

1 

0 

1 

10 

1 

1 

2 

7 

10 

17 

3 

3 

6 

3 

1 

4 

11 

1 

0 

1 

0 

2 

2 

9 

7 

16 

5 

5 

10 

6 

0 

6 

1 

0 

1 

12 

2 

0 

2 

Tot- 

als 

1 

0 

1 

4 

5 

9 

35 

50 

85 

73 

84 

157 

38 

42 

80 

22 

5 

27 

1 

2 

3 

4 

1 

5 

Median  for  Boys,  14  years,  7 months 
Median  for  C-irls,  14  years,  4 months 
Median  for  all,  14  years,  6 months 


The  median  age  at  entrance  in  Van  Denburg's  study  was 
2 3 

14.5;  in  O'Brien's  study,  14.8;  in  King's  report1"  of  1033  pupils 
entering  Iowa  City  (Iowa)  High  School,  14.9,  as  compared  with  14.5 
in  this  study. 


Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
2 Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 

^O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures. 

3King,  Irvi  ng,  The  High  School  Age. 


' 


. 


30 

Table  VIII 


The  Age  at  Entrance  of  301  Pupils 
Who  Were  Eliminated 


Median  for  Boys,  14  years, 11  months 
Median  for  Girls,  14  years,  7 months 
Median  for  all,  14  years,  9 months 


When  Table  VIII  is  compared  with  Table  VII,  it  is  clear 
that  age  at  entrance  is  a factor  in  elimination.  Those  pupils  who 
enter  later  are  more  readily  eliminated  than  those  who  enter  earlier. 
Two  reasons  may  be  given  for  this:  either  those  pupils  who  enter  lat- 
er are  less  able  to  do  high  school  work  effectively  or  else  they  be- 
come old  enough  to  go  to  work  sooner. 

O’Brien1  found  that  the  percentage  of  pupils  graduating  ^ 
who  entered  at  the  age  of  13  is  approximately  four  times  that  of  the 
pupils  who  entered  at  the  age  of  13;  likewise  the  percentage  of 
graduates  entering  at  lo  and  14  years  of  age  is  more  than  four  times 
tha^  of  the  pupils  entering  at  17  and  18  years  respectively;  while 

10  'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures,  p.  34. 


21 

the  percentage  of  graduates  entering  at  15  years  is  three  times  that 
of  the  graduates  entering  at  19  years. 

Table  IX 


The  Age  at  Leaving  of  201  Pupils 
Who  Were  Eliminated 


Years 

14 

15 

16 

17 

18 

19 

20 

Months 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

I 

0 

3 

1 

4 

8 

11 

19 

2 

3 

5 

2 

2 

4 

0 

1 

1 

1 

1 

2 

3 

3 

i 

4 

3 

4 

7 

1 

2 

3 

2 

0 

2 

2 

1 

i 

2 

2 

4 

6 

5 

1 

6 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

3 

3 

5 

8 

3 

1 

4 

3 

2 

5 

4 

1 

1 

2 

4 

2 

6 

1 

1 

2 

2 

0 

2 

5 

1 

0 

1 

3 

2 

5 

0 

3 

3 

3 

2 

5 

0 

1 

1 

6 

0 

2 

2 

4 

1 

5 

2 

0 

2 

7 

2 

2 

4 

2 

2 

4 

1 

3 

4 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

8 

3 

2 

5 

4 

1 

5 

2 

1 

3 

1 

0 

I 

9 

3 

4 

7 

3 

3 

6 

1 

0 

1 

10 

0 

3 

3 

2 

4 

6 

1 

1 

2 

4 

3 

7 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

11 

2 

0 

2 

4 

2 

6 

1 

3 

4 

1 

0 

1 

1 

1 

2 

2 

0 

2 

Totals 

10 

11 

21 

32 

26 

58 

28 

32 

60 

35 

17 

42 

6 

6 

12 

2 

2 

4 

4 

0 

4 

Median  for  Boys,  16  years,  2 months 
Median  for  Girls,  16  years,  0 months 
Median  for  all,  16  years,  1 month 


The  compulsory  school  attendance  law  in  Illinois  re- 
quired attendance  in  school  until  the  age  of  16,  with  the  exception 
that  pupils  over  14  years  of  age  whose  help  was  needed  at  home,  might 
attend  part-time  school  eight  hours  per  week  provided  they  were  able 
to  get  working  permits  from  the  superintendent  of  schools.  The  ef- 
fect of  this  law  is  evidently  shown  in  the  above  table. 

O'Brien'*'  found  that  16  years  was  the  most  popular  time  \ 
for  pupils  to  drop  out,  as  24.2  per  cent  were  eliminated  then  as  com- 
pared with  20.7  per  cent  at  15  years  and  21  per  cent  at  17  years. 

lO'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures,  p.  26. 


22 

Since  16  years  of  age  in  O'Brien's  study  means  15i  to  16^,  under 
that  classification  this  study  has  71  or  35  per  cent  dropping  out  at 
that  age,  and  IS  per  cent  and  21  per  cent  at  the  ages  of  15  and  17 
respectively . 

Table  X 


Occupation  of  Parents  of  367  Freshmen 
Who  Entered  Rockford  High  School  in  September,  1316 


MANUFACTURE  AND  TRADE 

No. 

PROFESSIONAL 

No 

FED.  OR  CITY  EMPLOYEE 

No 

Baker 

1 

Architect 

2 

Bd.  of  Review  Clerk 

1 

Finisher 

5 

Dentist 

3 

Constable 

1 

Foreman 

15 

Lawyer 

3 

County  Clerk 

1 

Grocer 

8 

Minister 

7 

Election  Bd.  Clerk 

1 

Manager 

17 

Osteopath 

1 

Fireman 

3 

Mechanic 

17 

Physician 

2 

Mail  Carrier 

1 

Merchant 

17 

Professor 

1 

Mail  Clerk 

1 

Tool  Maker 

4 

Total 

IS 

Officer  (U.  S.  A.) 

1 

Total 

84 

MIDDLEMAN 

Sailor 

1 

ARTISAN 

Total 

XX 

Aostracts 

1 

Boiler  inspector 

1 

Insurance 

6 

CLERICAL  ASSISTANTS 

Boiler  maker 

1 

Real  estate 

3 

Bookkeeper 

1 

Cabinet  maker 

10 

Salesman 

7 

Clerk 

4 

Carpenter 

12 

Total 

17 

Shipping  clerk 

2 

Contractor 

4 

Total 

7 

Electrician 

1 

PERSONAL  SEFVIC 

w 

Machinist 

18 

Barber 

4 

SEMI-PROFESSIONAL 

Mason 

2 

Dressmaker 

2 

Draftsman 

1 

Holder 

8 

Housekeeper 

4 

Druggist 

1 

Painter 

4 

Janitor 

1 

Teacher 

1 

Stationary  engineer 

2 

Night  watchmar 

i 4 

Watchmaker 

2 

Tailor 

3 

Total 

15 

Total 

5 

r>  n 

b ui 

GO 

TRANSPORTATION 

UNCLASSIFIED 

AGRICULTURE 

Chauffeur 

1 

Laborer 

27 

Farmer 

53 

Conductor 

1 

Driver 

7 

NOT  RECORDED 

49 

Engineer 

2 

Mot orman 

3 

Total 

14 

The  above  table  shows  the  distribution  of  parents  of  the 
whole  group  of  pupils  according  to  occupation,  while  the  following 
table  shows  the  number  of  pupils  and  percentage  of  elimination  in 
each  occupational  group  of  parents. 


23 


Table  XI 


The  Relationship  Between  Occupation  of  Parent 
and  Elimination  from  High  School 


Occupation 
of  Parent 

Number 

Entered 

Number 

Eliminated 

Per  Cent 
Eliminated 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

B 

G 

T 

Semi-professional 

3 

2 

5 

0 

1 

1 

0 

50 

20 

Professional 

8 

11 

19 

3 

4 

7 

38 

36 

36 

Fed.  & City  Employee 

5 

6 

11 

2 

2 

4 

40 

33 

36 

Agriculture 

23 

30 

53 

15 

9 

24 

65 

30 

45 

Mi ddl eman 

8 

9 

17 

5 

3 

8 

63 

33 

47 

Mfg.  and  trade 

43 

41 

84 

22 

19 

41 

51 

46 

49 

Personal  service 

9 

6 

15 

6 

2 

8 

67 

33 

53 

Clerical  Assistants 

3 

4 

7 

1 

3 

4 

33 

75 

57 

Artisan 

34 

32 

66 

24 

17 

41 

71 

53 

62 

Unclassified 

8 

19 

27 

5 

13 

18 

63 

68 

67 

Transportation 

7 

7 

14 

6 

5 

11 

86 

71 

79 

Not  recorded 

27 

22 

49 

IS 

16 

34 

67 

72 

69 

Totals 

178 

189 

367 

107 

94 

201 

61 

50 

55 

Elimination  is  evidently  affected  by  the  occupation  of 


the  parent.  The  better  trained  the  parent  the  more  likely  that  the 


child  will  graduate  from  high  school.  As  an  example,  according  to 

Table  XI,  the  child  of  a motorman  would  by  the  law  of  averages  be 
twice  as  likely  to  be  eliminated  from  high  school  before  graduation 
as  the  child  of  a dentist.  These  findings  compare  favorably  with 

T 

j. 

those  of  Van  Denburg,  but  he  has  no  agricultural  group  in  his  study 
He  found  that  federal  and  city  employees  appreciated  education  more 
than  those  in  other  occupations.  Children  of  federal  and  city  em- 
ployees also  rank  high  in  this  study. 

Some  one  has  said  that  parents  always  see  that  their 
children  receive  as  much  as  or  more  than  the  education  that  they 


1, 


Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  in 
Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 


— — — — 24 

themselves  received.  At  any  rats  the  parents  who  appreciate  mo3u 
the  value  of  an  education  are  most  likely  to  keep  their  children  in 
school  for  a long  period. 

Unfortunately  for  this  study,  intelligence  testa  were 
not  given  to  the  class  of  pupils  who  furnish  the  data  for  this  study. 
However,  the  Chicago  Group  Intelligence  Tests  were  given  to  the 
freshman  class  of  444  pupils  who  entered  three  years  later,  in  Sep- 
tember, 1919,  and  the  writer  is  using  the  results  of  these  tests  and 
the  amount  of  elimination  shown  to  have  occurred  by  June,  1931,  a 
period  of  two  years,  as  the  basis  for  the  comparison  between  general 
intelligence  and  elimination. 


Table  XII 

The  Relationship  Between  General  Intelligence 

and  Elimination 


General  Intelligence 
as  Shown  by  Chicago 
Group  Intelligence 
Tests 

Number  of  Pupils  Who 
Were  Eliminated  Before 
End  of  Fourth  Semester1 

Per  Cent  of  Each 
Fourth  Who  Were 
Eliminated 

Upper  Fourth 

26 

33.4 

* Id  X X \X  LXcXX  0 IX  v • u 

Third  Fourth 

— ?*. /T ari  ^ P P 

35 

33.5 

• m.  vUXClii  cJ  iv  • O 

Second  Fourth 

— TT i t* a + Hi ifli'+i  1 a O.CK 

34 

21.6 

1 i.  X U ^UCll  uXJ-t?  WU«  J 

Lower  Fourth 

46 

41.4 

/ • 

^Exclusive  of  the  17  who  died  or  moved  away. 


Of  the  111  pupils  in  the  upper  fourth  of  the  class,  as 


25 


determined  by  these  tests,  26  pupils  or  23.4  per  cent  were  eliminated 
while  of  the  111  pupils  in  the  lower  fourth,  46  pupils  or  41.4  per 
cent  were  eliminated.  Of  the  entire  class  323  finished  the  first 
four  semesters. 

Table  XIII 


Reasons  for  Leaving  High  School 
Shown  by  Office  Records 


Reason 

Number  of  Pupil3 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Wished  to  earn  money  immediately 

2S 

17 

46 

Failures  in  H.  S.  subjects 

IS 

11 

30 

Dislike  for  school 

11 

10 

21 

Work  to  support  family 

13 

7 

20 

Poor  health 

3 

10 

13 

Needed  to  help  at  home 

4 

7 

11 

Wanted  a short  business  course 

3 

5 

8 

Parents  not  interested  in  education 

2 

3 

5 

Absent  too  much 

3 

2 

5 

Illness  at  home 

1 

2 

3 

Course  too  long 

1 

2 

3 

Wanted  to  learn  a trade 

2 

0 

2 

H.  S.  subjects  not  worth  while 

1 

0 

1 

To  get  married 

0 

1 

1 

To  enter  techanical  schools 

1 

c 

1 

Enlisted  in  U.  S.  forces 

1 

0 

1 

Suspended 

0 

1 

1 

Reason  not  known 

1 

0 

1 

Died 

4 

2 

6 

Moved 

9 

13 

22 

Totals 

108 

S3 

201 

The  above  table  is  a summary  of  the  investigations  made 
by  the  school  in  its  attempt  to  urge  all  pupils  to  remain  until 
graduation.  The  case  of  each  pupil  who  left  was  investigated  until 
a satisfactory  report  was  available.  Twenty  different  reasohs  are 
listed  on  the  high  school  records  as  causes  for  pupil3  leaving- 
school,  but  many  of  these  reasons  are  related  to  other  reasons  so 
closely  that  it  is  difficult  to  state  which  one  applies  in  a partic- 
ular case.  Often  a combination  of  reasons  is  the  real  cause  for 
elimination . 


26 


Summary 

Of  the  group  studied  54.8  per  cent  were  eliminated  as 
compared  with  57  per  cent  in  the  study  made  by  Van  Denburg;  and 
O'Brien*’  found  that  of  the  group  which  he  studied  68.5  per  cent  did 
not  graduate  from  the  high  schools  which  they  entered. 

Elimination  is  greatest  during  the  first  four  semesters. 

The  elementary  schools  in  the  better  residential  dis- 
tricts send  a larger  proportion  of  their  pupils  to  high  school  than 
those  schools  in  the  poorer  districts. 

In  general  the  schools  sending  the  larger  proportions  of 
their  graduates  to  high  school  have  the  lower  percentages  of  elimina- 
tion. 

A closer  organization  between  the  elementary  schools  and 
the  high  school  would  no  doubt  lower  the  number  of  pupils  eliminated. 

The  pupils  of  American  fathers  have  a lower  percentage 
of  elimination  from  high  school  than  pupils  of  foreign  parentage. 

Late  entrance  in  high  school  prognosticates  early  elimi- 
nation. 


The  greatest  number  of  pupils  leave  high  school  on  or 
near  their  sixteenth  birthdays. 

The  three  largest  groups  of  parents  classified  by  occupa- 
tion were  manufacturers  and  traders,  artisans,  and  farmers. 

Elimination  ranked  by  occupation  of  parents  was  greatest 
in  the  transportation,  unclassified,  and  artisan  groups,  while  the 


1Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City 

^O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures 


27 

least  elimination  occurred  in  the  group  of  s emi -prof ess ional  parents, 
professional,  and  federal  and  city  employees. 

Approximately  one  pupil  in  every  five  pupils  is  elimina- 
ted because  of  inability  to  do  the  high  school  work. 

The  greatest  number  of  pupils  dropped  out  of  high  school 
because  of  a desire  to  earn  money  immediately,  failures  in  high 
school  work,  a general  dislike  for  school,  work  to  support  the  family, 
poor  health,  or  because  they  were  needed  to  help  at  home. 

B.  A Study  of  the  Questionnaires 

Questionnaires  were  sent  to  the  3S7  freshmen  comprising 
the  group  studied  with  the  exception  of  the  26  who  died  or  moved. 
Form  A,  following,  sent  to  the  175  eliminated  pupils  differed  but 
slightly  from  Form  B,  pages  30,  31,  and  32,  sent  to  the  166  who  had 
graduated  or  were  still  in  school.  One  hundred  replies  were  re- 
ceived from  the  eliminated  group,  and  108  from  the  other  group. 

Fifty  six  boys  (59  per  cent)  of  the  eliminated  group  returned  ques- 
tionnaires, while  44  girls  (55  per  cent)  replied.  The  record  of 
the  graduated  group  was  much  better,  for  43  boys  (60  per  cent)  and 
65  girls  (68  per  cent)  replied.  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that 
three  follow-up  letters  were  sent  to  the  eliminated  group  before  the 
100  replies  were  secured,  while  the  graduate  group  sent  ICS  replies 
with  no  follow-up  letters. 


- " 28 

Form  A 

507  Chalmers  Street, 

Champaign,  Illinois. 

July  6,  1931. 

Dear  Friend: 

In  September,  1916,  there  were  367  pupils  who 
entered  Rockford  High  School  as  Freshmen.  168  of  that 
number  have  graduated  or  are  still  in  school.  You  are  one 
of  the  pupils  who  did  not  stay  to  graduate. 

I am  making  a study  of  the  reasons  why  pupils 
drop  out  of  high  school.  I am  doing  this  for  two  reasons, 
first,  because  I am  interested  in  you  and  in  education  in 
general,  and  second,  because  I am  writing  a thesis  for  cred- 
it in  the  Graduate  School  of  the  University  of  Illinois. 

Below  you  will  find  a list  of  questions.  Will 
you  please  answer  these  questions  and  return  these  sheets 
to  me  immediately? 

By  answering  these  questions  you  will  be  doing 
me  a great  favor  and  you  may  help  some  other  boys  and  girls 
in  the  future,  for  it  is  from  such  studies  as  this  one  that 
we  learn  how  to  make  our  schools  better. 

I assure  you  that  this  information  will  be  con- 
fidential. The  results  of  nearly  300  such  question  sheets 
will  be  tabulated  but  your  name  will  never  be  used  in  any 
public  way  whatsoever.  I mention  this  because  your  answers 
will  be  worth  most  to  me  if  you  answer  these  questions  abso- 
lutely honestly  so  far  as  you  are  able.  If  you  cannot 
answer  a question  perfectly,  then  write  the  approximate 
answer.  All  I am  interested  in  is  getting  all  of  these 
facts  concerning  your  own  case. 


Sincerely  yours. 


F.  J.  Du  Frain 

Note:  Answer  every  question  pertaining  to  you.  If  you  do 

not  know  the  exact  answer,  write  in  as  near  the  exact  answer 
as  you  can. 

Name 

1.  Why  did  you  leave  Rockford  High  School?  Check  the  proper 
reason  given  below  if  it  occurs;  otherwise  write  in  the 
reason . 


29 


I left  Rockford  High  School  because: 

(1)  of  failures  in  subjects 

(2)  of  work  to  support  family 

(3)  I had  poor  health 

(4)  of  trouble  with  a teacher 

(5;  of  general  dislike  for  school 

(6)  I wished  to  earn  money  immediately 

(7)  my  home  life  was  unhappy 

(8)  I had  been  absent  too  much 

(9)  the  high  school  subjects  did  not  seern  v/orth  while 
(1C)  high  school  courses  were  too  long 

(11)  I wanted  a short  business  course 


2.  Have  you  attended  any  of  the  following  schools  since  you 
left  Rockford  High  School?  If  so,  check  the  proper  one 


St.  Thomas  High  School 
Keith  School 
Business  College 


Private  School 


Military  School 

College 

Academy 


If  you  have  attended  any  of  the  above  schools,  state  the 
following: 

Name  of  school  was Give  the  date 

when  you  entered Date  of  leaving 

Did  you  graduate 

3.  If  you  have  attended  night  school  classes,  state  how 

long What  subjects  did  you  study  in  night 

school 

4.  If  you  have  done  any  correspondence  study,  name  the  sub- 

j ects 

5.  Are  you  married? 

6.  If  you  have  plans  for  getting  more  education,  please 

state  them 


7.  Was  your  father  living  when  you  left  school? 

your  mother? 

8.  Did  your  father  want  you  to  stay  in  school? 

your  mother? 

9.  What  is  your  present  occupation? 

10.  How  much  did  you  earn  from  July  1,  1920  to  July  1,  1921? 
(If  you  were  employed 


..  , 


30 

only  part  of  that  time,  how  much  did  you  earn  per 
month? ) 

11.  How  many  older  brothers  have  you? younger 

brothers? older  sisters? younger 

sisters? 

12.  What  subjects  in  high  school  did  you  like  be3t? 


State  why 

13.  What  subjects  did  you  like  least? 


State  why 

14.  What  teacher  did  you  like  best? 

State  why 

15.  What  teacher  did  you  dislike? 

State  why 

16.  Did  your  parents  own  the  home  in  which  you  were  living 

when  you  entered  high  school  in  September,  1916? 

If  they  did  not  please  state  approximately  the  amount 
of  rent  which  you  had  to  pay  per  month  at  that  time... 


17.  If  you  entered  high  school  as  a freshman  again  what 

course  would  you  select? 

Why? 


Form  B 

Pontiac,  Michigan, 
October  29,  1921. 

Dear  Friend: 

In  writing  my  thesis  for  the  Master  of  Arts 
Degree  at  the  University  of  Illinois,  I have  discovered  that 
I need  some  information  which  only  you  can  give  me.  My 
subject  is  "Causes  of  Elimination  of  Pupils  in  R.  H.  S." 

My  data  is  taken  from  the  367  pupils  who  entered  in  September, 
1916. 

I had  thought  that  the  information  which  I col- 
lected from  the  ones  who  did  not  graduate  would  be  sufficient 
but  I have  found  that  I need  your  answers  to  these  questions 
to  3erve  as  a means  of  comparison. 

I assure  you  that  this  information  will  be  con- 
fidential. The  results  of  the  answers  from  all  of  your 
classmates  will  be  tabulated  but,  of  course,  your  name  will 


31 

never  be  used  in  a public  way  whatsoever.  I mention  this 
because  your  answers  will  be  worth  most  to  me  if  you  reply 
to  them  without  "fear  or  favor."  If  you  cannot  answer  a 
question  perfectly  then  write  the  approximate  answer. 

Your  immediate  reply  will  be  appreciated  by 

Your  friend, 

F.  J.  Du  Frain 

Name 

1.  Have  you  attended  any  of  the  following  schools  since  you 
left  Rockford  High  School?  If  so,  check  the  proper  one. 

Business  College  Military  School 

Private  School  College  or  University 

If  you  have  attended  any  of  the  above  schools,  state  the 
following: 

Name  of  school  was Give  the  date 

when  you  entered Date  of  leaving 

Did  you  graduate? What  course  did  you  take?.. 


2.  If  you  have  attended  night  school  classes,  state  how 

long What  subjects  did  you  study  in 

night  school? 

3.  If  you  have  done  any  correspondence  study,  name  the  sub- 

j ects 

4.  Are  you  married? 

5.  If  you  have  plans  for  getting  more  education,  please 

state  them 

6.  Was  your  father  living  when  you  graduated? 

Your  mother? 

7.  What  is  your  present  occupation? 

8.  How  much  did  you  earn  from  July  1,  1920  to  July  1,  1921? 

(if  you  were  employed  only  part  of  that 

time,  how  much  did  you  earn  per  month?) 

9.  How  many  older  brothers  have  you? younger  brothers? 

older  sisters? younger  sisters? 

10.  What  subjects  in  high  school  did  you  like  best? 

State  why 

11.  What  teacher  did  you  like  best? 

State  why 


32 


12.  What  subjects  did  you  like  least? 
State  why 


13.  What  teacher  did  you  dislike? 
State  why 


14  . Did  your  parents  own  the  home  in  which  you  were  living 

when  you  entered  high  school  in  September,  ISIS? 

If  they  did  not  please  state  the  approximate  amount  of 
16.  rent  which  you  had  to  pay  per  month  at  that  time 


15.  If  you  entered  high  school  as  a freshman  again  what 

course  would  you  select? 

Why? 


The  following  tables  will  give  the  data  secured  from 
the  returned  questionnaires.  Wherever  the  same  question  was  asked 
of  both  groups,  the  information  appears  in  the  same  table.  Hereafter 
in  this  discussion  "A"  will  be  used  to  designate  the  group  of  grad- 
ates and  pupils  still  in  school,  while  "3"  will  stand  for  the  group 
f eliminated  pupils. 

Table  XIV 

Why  did  you  leave  Rockford  High  School? 


Group  B 

Boys 

Girl  s 

Total 

Wished  to  earn  money  immediately 

12 

9 

21 

Work  to  support  family 

12 

2 

14 

Poor  health 

4 

10 

14 

General  dislike  for  school 

9 

5 

14 

Failures  in  high  school  subjects 

S 

3 

12 

Wanted  short  business  course 

5 

6 

11 

Absent  too  much 

6 

4 

10 

Trouble  with  teacher 

5 

2 

7 

High  school  subjects  not  worth  while 

r* 

o 

1 

7 

Needed  to  help  at  home 

1 

6 

7 

Courses  too  long 

3 

2 

5 

Unhappy  home 

1 

0 

1 

To  get  married 

0 

1 

1 

To  enter  technical  schools 

1 

0 

1 

On  account  of  the  war 

1 

0 

1 

On  account  of  stammering 

0 

1 

1 

Parents  not  interested  in  education 

0 

1 

1 

Wanted  to  learn  a trade 

1 

0 

1 

Enlisted  in  U.  S.  forces 

1 

0 

1 

Totals 

77 

53 

130 

. 


33 

The  above  question  was  answered  by  50  boys  and  43  girls, 
but  more  than  one  reason  was  checked  by  some  of  them.  The  seven 
reasons  receiving  the  highest  number  of  votes  are  certainly  import- 
ant factors  in  the  elimination  of  this  group.  A reason  such  as 
"general  dislike  for  school"  may  result  from  a combination  of  other 
factors  like  poor  health,  trouble  with  a teacher,  unhappy  home,  etc. 
but  since  those  reasons  did  not  receive  as  many  votes,  it  is  as- 
sumed that  the  dislike  for  school  is  the  most  important  reason  in 
itself.  Poor  health  is  given  as  a reason  for  leaving  school  by  10 
girls  but  by  only  4 boys.  The  frankness  in  admitting  that  failure 
in  school  subjects  was  the  cause  for  the  elimination  of  .such  a 
large  percentage  is  noticeable.  Some  of  the  pupils  of  this  group 
left  during  the  world  war  and  no  doubt  the  unusual  conditions  of  em- 
ployment and  sacrifices  at  home  had  some  effect  on  their  elimination 

Table  XV 


What  schools  have  you  attended 
since  you  left  Rockford  High  School? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Schools 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

College  or  University 

23 

31 

54 

Business  college 
Technical  school  or 

0 

2 

2 

9 

9 

18 

trade  school 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

4 

Private  school 

1 

1 

2 

“0“ 

0 

0 

Other  high  schools 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1 

1 

Military  school 

1 

1 

0 

0 

0 

Night  school 

4 

5 

S 

8 

11 

19 

Correspondence  school 

6 

3 

9 

6 

0 

6 

Continuation  school 

0 

0 

0 

4 

0 

4 

Totals 

36 

42 

78 

31 

21 

52 

It  seems  remarkable  that  of  IOC  eliminated  pupils  over 
half  of  them,  52,  had  done  some  further  educational  work  after 


: . 


34 


leaving  high  school.  It  surely  cannot  be  said  that  formal  educa- 
tion stops  with  elimination  or  graduation  from  high  school.  The 
business  colleges  and  night  schools  are  serving  an  increasingly 
large  group  of  young  people  who  desire  practical  knowledge  obtainable 
in  the  shortest  possible  time. 

Table  XVI 


Are  you  married? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Yes 

No 

Yes 

No 

Boys 

0 

43 

4 

53 

Girls 

0 

65 

11 

33 

Totals 

c 

108 

15 

84 

There  is  no  question  but  that  early  elimination  fore- 
casts early  marriage. 


Table  XVII 

If  you  have  plans  for  getting  more 
education,  please  state  them. 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Already  in  college 

33 

31 

54 

Plan  for  more  education 

13 

11 

34 

30 

13 

33 

No  plan  for  more  educa- 
tion 

7 

33 

30 

33 

30 

63 

Totals 

43 

65 

108 

53 

43 

95 

For  a period  of  several  years,  50  per  cent  of  the  gradu- 
ates of  Rockford  High  School  have  gone  to  college.  Exactly  one 
half  of  the  graduates  who  replied  to  the  questionnaires  were  in  col- 
lege. It  is  likewise  significant  that  95  pupils  of  the  eliminated 


35 


group  had  plans  for  more  education. 


Table  XVIII 


Where  or  how  do  you  expect  to  get  this  additional  training? 


Group  J 

\ 

Group  B 

Boys 

C-irls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

T o *fc  al 

College  or  University 
International  Correspondence  SchoJ. 

11 

9 

20 

3 

0 

3 

Preparatory  school 

2 

3 

5 

Nurses'  training 

0 

3 

3 

Stenography 

0 

3 

3 

La  Salle  Extension  University 

2 

0 

2 

Commercial  illustrating 

2 

0 

2 

Bookkeeping 

0 

2 

2 

Drafting 

2 

0 

2 

Auto  school 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

Commerce 

1 

1 

2 

1 

0 

1 

Agriculture 

1 

0 

1 

Commercial  Spanish 

1 

0 

1 

Night  school 

1 

1 

2 

Cooperative  school 

1 

0 

1 

Moody  Institute 

1 

0 

1 

Pharmacy 

1 

0 

1 ' 

Music 

Unclassified 

0 

1 

1 

1 

0 

1 

Totals 

13 

11 

24 

20 

12 

32 

No  douht  the  eliminated  pupils  have  found  a real  need 
for  more  training  as  is  shown  by  their  plans  for  the  future.  No 
other  group  of  citizens  would  show  such  a large  percentage  of  their 
number  planning  to  get  more  education  training. 


" 36 

Table  XIX 


Was  your  father  living  when  you  left 
school  or  graduated?  your  mother? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Father  living 

Yes 

38 

56 

94 

48 

40 

88 

Ho 

5 

9 

14 

7 

2 

9 

Mother  living 

Yes 

3S 

60 

99 

50 

41 

91 

No 

4 

5 

9 

5 

1 

6 

Parents  dead 

23 

15 

Total  parents  liv- 
ing and  dead 

216 

194 

Fewer  parents  of  the  pupils  in  group  B were  dead  than 
of  group  A:  so  with  the  former  group  the  loss  of  one  or  both  par- 
ents is  not  a serious  factor  in  the  elimination  of  a large  number. 
However,  the  loss  of  9 fathers  and  6 mothers  from  ICC  pupils  elimi- 
nated is  a fact  to  be  considered  when  home  conditions  are  analyzed. 

Table  XX 


Bid  your  father  want  you  to 
stay  in  school?  your  mother? 


Group  B 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

F ather 

Yes 

35 

25 

80 

Ho 

12 

13 

25 

Mother 

Yes 

46 

30 

76 

Ho 

3 

q 

«./ 

12 

Total 

Parents 

Yes 

156 

Ho 

37 

3? 

While  more  parents  wished,  their  children  to  remain  in 
school  than  wished  them  to  leave,  the  total  of  25  fathers  and  12 
mothers  who  did  not  desire  their  children  to  stay,  has  an  effect  on 
elimination  not  to  be  overlooked. 

Table  XXI 

What  is  your  present  occupation? 

Group  A 

Group  B 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

Student  23 
Clerk  8 
Hone  3 
Concertizing  1 

Student  28 
Stenographer  14 
Teacher  7 
Clerk  5 

Farmer  12 
Clerk  3 
Salesman  5 
Machinist  4 

Housekeeper  14 
Clerk  13 
Stenographer  5 
Bookkeeper  4 

Ass't  manager  1 
Apprentice  to 
optician  1 

Electrician  1 

Mechanic  1 

Housekeeper  5 
None  3 
Typist  2 
Nurse  1 

Apprentice  to 
machinist  4 

Bookkeeper  3 

Mechanic  3 

Draftsman  2 

Garment  maker  S' 
Factory  hand  2 

Salesman  1 

Farmer  1 

Newspaper 
advertising  1 

Motion  picture 
operator  1 

Stenographer  1 

Sign  painter  1 

Laborer  1 

Pharmacist  1 
Student  1 
Chauffeur  1 
Laborer  1 
Sailor  1 

Totals  43 

65 

50 

40 

By  far  the  greater  number  of  graduates  is  engaged  in 
professional  or  clerical  occupations  or  in  training  for  those  occu- 
pations, while  the  prevailing  occupations  of  the  eliminated  group 
are  agriculture,  housekeeping,  clerical  work,  and  mechanical  work. 
Group  A is  doing  a higher  class  of  work  than  group  B. 

. 


38 

Taole  XXII 


How  much  did  you  earn  from  July  1,  1920  to  July  1,  1921?  If  you 
were  employed  only  part  of  that  time,  how  much  did  you  earn  per 
month? 


C-roup  A 

Group  B 

Dollars  per  Month 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

41-50 

1 

4 

5 

2 

2 

4 

51-60 

1 

2 

3 

5 

8 

13 

61-70 

1 

7 

8 

1 

7 

8 

71-80 

4 

3 

7 

6 

6 

12 

81-90 

4 

3 

7 

6 

2 

8 

91-100 

4 

3 

7 

6 

2 

8 

101-110 

1 

3 

4 

3 

0 

3 

111-120 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

121-130 

2 

0 

2 

9 

2 

11 

131-140 

2 

0 

2 

3 

0 

3 

141-150 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

0 

151-160 

0 

0 

0 

1 

0 

1 

161-170 

1 

0 

1 

3 

0 

3 

Total  reporting 

22 

25 

47 

46 

29 

75 

Median  salary  for 
each  group 

90.50 

68.58 

82.42 

95. 

65.28 

82.25 

The  median  salary  per  month  of  those  graduates  who 
worked  and  those  pupils  who  were  eliminated  is  practically  the  same. 
The  hoys  of  the  eliminated  group  earned  a little  more  than  the  hoys 
of  the  graduate  group,  while  with  the  girls  this  was  reversed. 

When  one  considers  that  approximately  50  per  cent  of  the  graduates 
were  attending  college,  the  wages  of  the  graduates  who  stayed  at 
home  can  hardly  he  considered  representative  of  the  earning  ability 
of  the  group.  It  must  also  he  borne  in  mind  that  since  the  elimi- 
nated pupils  held  positions  longer  this  fact  would  further  tend  to 
give  them  an  advantage  over  the  graduates  who  had  worked  only  a year 


■ 


. 

39 

Table  XXIII 


How  many  older  brothers  have  you?  younger 
brothers?  older  sisters?  younger  sisters? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Number  of 

Children  in 

Pup 

ils  Answering 

Pup: 

lIs  Answering 

Family 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girl  s 

Total 

1 

5 

S 

14 

5 

0 

5 

2 

8 

18 

26 

11 

6 

17 

3 

14 

14 

28 

10 

8 

18 

4 

5 

11 

16 

10 

7 

17 

5 

5 

8 

13 

11 

7 

18 

6 

1 

4 

5 

5 

7 

12 

7 

2 

0 

2 

2 

3 

5 

8 

0 

1 

1 

1 

2 

3 

9 

2 

0 

2 

0 

1 

1 

10 

1 

0 

1 

0 

1 

1 

Totals 

43 

65 

108 

55 

42 

97 

Median  no. 
of  children 
in  family 

3 

3 

3 

4 

4.5 

4 

Average  no . 
of  children 

3.6 

3.09 

3.3 

3.7 

4.7 

4.1 

in  family 

Sole  child 

5 

9 

14 

5 

0 

5 

Eldest  child 

9 

26 

35 

16 

10 

26 

Youngest 

child 

13 

15 



28 

14 

12 

26 

Table  XXIII  reads:  5 boys  and  9 girls  in  group  A were  the 
only  children  in  their  respective  families,  while  5 boys  and 
0 girls  in  group  B had  no  brothers  or  sisters.  Similarly 
there  were  8 boys  and  18  girls  in  group  A who  each  had  one 
sister  or  one  brother,  etc. 

Van  Denburg1  found  that  early  elimination  is  favored  by 
having  younger  brothers  or  younger  sisters.  It  would  also  appear 
to  be  true  from  .this  data,  for  66  of  the  97  eliminated  had  at  least 


Van  Benburg,  Joseph  K. , Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
Bubxic  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 


. 


40 


one  younger  brother  or  sister.  The  size  of  the  families  of  group 
B is  larger  than  that  of  group  A.  While  the  girls  of  group  B come 
from  much  larger  families  than  the  girls  of  group  A,  there  is  not 
much  difference  in  this  respect  in  the  size  of  families  of  the  boys. 

Table  XXIV 

What  subjects  in  high  school  did  you  like  best? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

43  answers 

64  answers 

50  answers 

38  answers 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

Science  18 
Mathematics  16 
History  10 

English  27 
History  27 
Mathematics  14 

Mech.  Drawing  18 
Science  10 
English  10 

Commercial  14 
English  13 
Science  9 

Commercial  7 
English  5 
Shoo  work  3 

Commercial  9 
French  8 
Household  arts  6 

Mathematics  8 
History  8 
Shoo  work  7 

Mathematics  6 
F.  H.  Drawing  5 
History  4 

F.  H.  Drawing  2 
Mech.  Drawing  2 
French  3 

Science  6 
Music  4 
Languages  3 

Commercial 
Latin  1 

Languages  1 

Household  arts  2 
Latin  1 

Spanish  1 

Oratory  1 

F.  H.  Drawing  3 
Pedagogy  3 
Latin  3 
Spanish  1 

Totals  67 

114 

68 

54 

Note:  The  subjects  are  ranked  in  order  of  preference  with  the  number 
of  votes  after  each  one. 

Evidently  the  practicability  of  mechanical  drawing  and 
commercial  work  appealed  to  the  eliminated  group.  A comparison  of 
the  first  three  subjects  in  each  of  the  four  columns  will  show  that 
only  six  subjects  were  voted  on,  i.  e.  science,  mathematics,  history 
commercial  subjects,  English,  and  mechanical  drawing. 

The  reasons  given  for  the  pupils'  choices  were  30  varied 
that  a tabulation  was  not  thought  of  any  value. 


' 

’ 

41 

Table  XXV 


What  subjects  in  high  school  did  you  like  least? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

41  answers 

62  answers 

49  answers 

37  answers 

Boys 

Girls 

Boys 

Girls 

English  13 
Mathematics  11 
Science  8 

Mathematics  27 
English  16 
Latin  14 

Disliked  none  5 
English  12 
Mathematics  18 

Disliked  none  1 
English  11 
Mathematics  10 

French  4 
History  3 
Hech.  Drawing  2 

Science  13 
History  11 
Commercial  3 

Commercial  6 
History  3 
Hech . Drawing  2 

Commercial  10 
Science  6 
History  6 

Commercial  1 
Shop  work  1 
Latin  1 
Mil.  training  1 

French  3 

Science  2 
Shop  work  1 
Languages  1 

F.  H.  Drawing  1 
Latin  1 
French  1 

Totals  44 

87 

57 

47 

Note:  The  subjects  are  ranked  in  order  of  dislike  with  the  number 
of  votes  after  each  one. 


The  subjects  which  were  liked  best  were  also  the  ones 
that  were  disliked  most  by  the  pupils.  If  we  compare  the  three 
highest  in  each  of  the  four  columns  in  the  above  table,  we  have  the  1 
following  five  subjects:  English,  mathematics,  science,  Latin,  and 
commercial  subjects.  With  the  exception  of  Latin  all  of  these  are 
found  in  the  "liked-best " group  also.  In  each  of  the  four  columns 
,the  vote  for  disliked  subjects  is  lighter  than  the  vote  for  the 
liked  subjects  in  Table  XXIV,  indicating  that  the  pupils'  likes 
were  stronger  than  their  dislikes.  There  is  no  question  but  that 
the  dislike  for  certain  subjects  influenced  some  pupils  to  leave, 
but  this  influence  is  not  very  great. 


. 


Table  XXVI 

What  teacher 3 did  you  like  best? 

30  boys  in  group  A gave  1C  men  25  votes  and  14  women  14  votes 

60  girls  in  group  A gave  6 men  26  votes  and  20  women  38  votes 

42  boys  in  group  B gave  7 men  10  votes  and  15  women  23  votes 

31  girls  in  group  B gave  5 men  5 votes  and  17  women  21  votes 

Thirty-seven  teachers  were  voted  on  as  liked  by  from  1 
to  5 pupils  in  group  B.  Twenty-five  pupils  in  this  group  said 
they  liked  all  of  their  teachers. 

The  pupils  in  group  A expressed  their  likes  and  dislikes 
more  freely  than  the  pupils  from  the  eliminated  group.  This  was 
probably  due  to  two  things:  first,  they  attended  high  school  longer 
and  evidently  had  their  likes  and  dislikes  more  firmly  embedded, 
and  second,  they  knew  the  writer  better  and  were  more  free  to  ex- 
press themselves  on  3uch  questions. 

Table  XXVII 

What  teachers  did  you  dislike? 

42  boys  in  group  A gave  5 men  10  votes  and  11  women  21  votes 

65  girls  in  group  A gave  6 men  10  votes  and  22  women  43  votes 

30  boys  in  group  B gave  7 men  7 votes  and  8 women  11  votes 

21  girls  in  group  B gave  4 men  6 votes  and  7 women  15  votes 

Forty  pupils  in  group  A and  23  pupils  in  group  B dis- 
liked none  of  their  teachers.  The  former  group  expressed  a dis- 
like for  25  different  teachers  and  the  latter  for  17  different 

teachers . 

The  tone  of  the  answers  showed  that  in  most  cases  the 
dislikes  were  not  strong  ones  but  rather  the  type  of  dislike  a sol- 
dier might  show  towards  some  of  his  officers.  In  a few  cases  the 


43 


attack  upon  teachers  was  strong,  but  after  comparing  the  replies  as 
to  likes  and  dislikes  of  both  groups,  the  writer  does  not  feel  that 
the  dislike  for  teachers  has  much  effect  upon  elimination.  Most 
of  the  replies  showed  a wholesome  respect  for  the  members  of  the 

faculty . 

Table  XXVIII 


Did  your  parents  own1  the  home  in  which 
you  were  living  when  you  entered  high  school? 


Group  A 

Group  3 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Yes 

32 

51 

83 

36 

26 

62 

No 

11 

14 

25 

20 

15 

35 

Owning  was  understood  to  include  homes  on  which  there 
7/as  still  some  indebtedness. 


Hfhile  the  owning  of  a home  is  a measure  of  the  financial 
condition  of  a family,  it  evidently  is  not  a determining  element  in 
elimination,  for  77  per  cent  of  group  A and  64  per  cent  of  group  3 
owned  their  homes.  The  large  percentage  of  home  owners  is  perhaps 
largely  due  to  the  fact  that  approximately  half  of  the  population  of 
Rockford  is  Swedish  or  of  Swedish  descent,  and  they  are  a thrifty 
class  of  people. 


44 


Table  XXIX 


If  your  parents  did  not  own  their  home  when  you  entered 
high  school,  please  state  approximately  the  amount  of  rent 
paid  per  month  at  that  time. 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Dollars 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

10-15 

1 

1 

2 

5 

7 

16-20 

8 

8 

5 

3 

8 

21-25 

4 

1 

5 

2 

2 

26-30 

5 

1 

6 

31-35 

1 

1 

1 

1 

36-40 

4 

1 

5 

1 

& 

3 

41-45 

1 

1 

1 

1 

46-50 
Over  50 

1 

1 

2 

1 

1 

Totals 

11 

12 

23 

17 

12 

2S 

Medians 

35. 

18.44 

22. 

22.5 

15.84 

19.38 

The  rentals  asked  for  were  those  for  September,  ISIS, 
and  at  that  time  rents  were  much  lower  than  at  any  time  since. 

While  the  number  of  cases  considered  is  small,  the  results  show  a 
slightly  higher  rental  in  group  A,  but  in  this  study  the  difference 
is  not  enough  to  indicate  a serious  factor  in  elimination.  Van 
Denburg,  ten  years  earlier,  found  that  the  median  rental  for  the 
eliminated  pupil3  in  New  York  City  was  about  $15,  and  he  3ays,  "on 
the  whole  the  economic  statue  of  these  pupils  seems  to  be  only  a 
slight  factor  in  their  continuance  in  school."1  Other  studies  re- 
ferred to  by  O'Brien^  lead  to  the  same  conclusion. 


1Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City,  p.  113 

^O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures,  p.  35 


45 


Table  XXX 

If  you  entered  high  school  as  a freshman 
again  what  course  would  you  select? 


Group  A 

Group  B 

Boys 

Girls 

Total 

Boys 

Girl3 

Total 

Same  course 

30 

35 

83 

36 

18 

54 

Different  course 

13 

13 

35 

11 

15 

36 

Totals 

43 

65 

108 

47 

33 

80 

Under  the  system  used  in  Rockford  High  School  at  the 
time  these  freshmen  entered,  pupils  choosing  a special  curriculum 
could  not  change  until  one  semester  of  work  was  completed.  In 
some  cases  this  lack  of  adjustment  may  have  aided  elimination. 
However,  there  is  not  a large  proportion  in  each  group  who  were 
dissatisfied  with  the  curriculums  chosen,  for  only  33  per  cent  of 
the  graduates  and  33.5  per  cent  of  the  non-graduates  would  select 
different  courses  if  they  were  entering  high  school  again. 


Table  XXXI 

Comparison  of  Reasons  for  Elimination 
Taken  from  School  Records,  With  Those 
Given  by  the  Pupils  Themselves 

46 

School  Recoi 

ds 

Questionnaires 

Number 

p 

er 

Number 

Per 

Cent 

Cent 

Reason 

B 

G 

T 

B 

0 

T 

B 

C- 

T 

B 

G 

m 

1 

Wished  to  earn  money  im- 

mediately 

29 

1? 

43 

27 

18 

23 

12 

9 

21 

16 

17 

IS 

Failures  in  H.  S.  subjects 

19 

11 

30 

18 

12 

15 

9 

3 

12 

12 

r» 

O 

9 

Dislike  for  school 

11 

10 

21 

10 

10 

10 

9 

5 

14 

12 

9 

10 

Work  to  support  family 

13 

7 

20 

12 

7 

10 

12 

2 

14 

13 

4 

10 

Poor  health 

3 

10 

13 

3 

10 

6 

4 

10 

14 

5 

19 

10 

Reeded  to  help  at  home 

4 

7 

11. 

4 

7 

5 

1 

JL 

n 

O 

7 

11 

5 

Wanted  a short  business 

course 

3 

5 

8 

3 

5 

4 

5 

6 

11 

6 

11 

8 

Parents  not  interested  in 

education 

2 

O 

5 

- 

3 

3 

1 

i] 

Absent  too  much 

3 

2 

5 

3 

2 

3 

6 

4 

10 

8 

7 

7 

Illness  at  home 

1 

2 

3 

Trouble  with  teacher 

Zj 

2 

7 

6 

4 

5 

Course  too  long 

1 

& 

3 

3 

2 

5 

4 

4 

4 

Wanted  to  learn  a trade 

2 

0 

2 

1 

0 

1 

H.  S.  subjects  not  worth 

while 

1 

0 

1 

6 

1 

7 

8 

5 

To  get  married 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

1 

To  enter  technical  school 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

Suspended 

0 

1 

1 

Stammered 

0 

1 

1 

Reason  net  known 

1 

c 

1 

Enlisted  in  U.  S.  forces 

1 

0 

1 

1 

0 

1 

On  account  of  war 

1 

0 

1 

Unhappy  home  life 

1 

n 

vJ 

JL 

Died 

4 

2 

6 

4 

2 

3 

Moved 

9 

13 

22 

8 

14 

11 

Totals 

108 

93 

201 

77 

53 

130 

There  is  a total  of  130  different  reasons 

given 

under 

the  questionnaires  but  this  is 

due 

to  the 

fact  that 

many 

pupils 

in- 

dicated  more  than  one  reason  for  their 

elimination, 

for  only  100 

questionnaires  were  returned/ 

The  above  table  shows  that 

the  correlation  between 

the 

data  taken  from  the  school 

recc 

>rds 

and 

that  from  the  quee 

tionnaires  i 

■ 


47 

is  high.  The  desire  to  earn  money  immediately  was  the  most  im- 
portant reason  as  manifested  both  by  the  school  records  and  the 
answers  to  the  questionnaires.  The  school  records  showed  that 
failures  in  high  school  subjects  was  the  second  most  important 
reason  for  elimination,  attributing  15  per  cent  of  the  elimination 
to  this  cause,  but  only  9 per  cent  of  the  pupils  gave  this  as  a 
cause.  The  reason  ranking  third,  i.  e.,  dislike  for  school,  may 
have  been  influenced  by  other  causes  such  as  dislike  of  subjects 
elected,  dislike  of  teacher,  failure  of  parents  to  encourage  chil- 
dren to  continue  in  school,  etc.  Only  10  per  cent  of  the  students 
left  school  to  support  the  family.  v This  may  be  compared  with 
Barrows1'"'  report  that  80  per  cent  of  the  families  of  pupils  leaving 
New  York  City  schools  for  work  were  independent  of  the  child's 
wages . 

Summary 

The  answers  to  the  questionnaires  impress  one  with  the 
serious  attitude  of  life,  not  often  accredited  to  pupils  of  high 
school  age,  which  was  shown,  and  it  is  a revelation  to  see  among 
even  the  eliminated  group  how  education  "carries  on." 

Many  letters. were  returned  with  the  questionnaires  to 
aid  in  making  complete  the  answers  given.  Some  of  the  pupils  la- 
mented the  fact  that  they  had  dropped  out  of  school;  others  wished 
that  they  had  done  better  work  but  hoped  that  the  on-coming  pupils 
would  be  advised  of  the  importance  of  doing  their  work  well;  and 

1 

Barrows,  Alice  P.,  Pieport  of  Vocational  C-uidance  Survey  (New  York 

City),  Public  Education  Association,  New  York  City,  Bui.  No.  S, 

1912 


, 


' 


, 


. 

’ 


. 


48 

one  boy  recommended  that  the  author  urge  all  student 3 wishing  to 
study  engineering  to  take  all  of  the  high  school  mathematics  that 
they  could  get.  These  letters  showed  clearly  that  many  of  the 
eliminated  pupils  realized  too  late  the  value  of  high  school  train- 
ing andtheyalso  showed  that  many  of  the  graduates  were  beginning  to 
look  back  upon  their  work  with  a wider  vision. 

The  public  high  school  population  as  indicated  by  the 
questionnaires  is  much  more  cosmopolitan  than  that  of  private  high 
schools  as  shown  by  Counts^  in  his  study  of  the  pupils  of  the  Uni- 
versity of  Chicago  Eigh  School  and  Phillips  Exeter  Academy,  where 
he  found  that  42.7  per  cent  of  the  parents  were  proprietors,  31  per 
cent  were  in  professional  service,  and  11.5  £er  cent  in  managerial 
service.  The  public  high  school  pupils  come  from  all  classes  of 
society  and  while  many  of  the  boys  and  girls  are  handicapped  by 
poverty,  lack  of  encouragement,  and  want  of  mental  ability,  success 
or  failure  in  high  school  is  not  totally  dependent  on  any  of  these 
factors.  Such  influences  as  loss  of  a parent,  dislike  for  teach- 
ers or  required  subjects,  selection  of  the  wrong  curriculum,  etc. 
may  be  contributory  causes  but  they  do  not  seem  to  be  important  as 
direct  causes  of  the  elimination  of . such  large  groups  as  we  find 
dropping  out  of  the  public  high  schools  of  today. 

The  greatest  los3  of  pupils  comes  from  the  desire  to 
earn  money  immediately.  The  problem  facing  us,  therefore,  is  to 
convince  the  high  school  population  of  the  importance  of  graduation 
from  high  school.  The  value  of  an  education  needs  to  be  kept  con- 
stantly before  the  eyes  of  the  boys  and  girls  before  it  is  too  late 

■^Counts,  George  S.,  The  Population  of  the  Private  Secondary  School, 
School  and  Society,  Vol.  15,  p.  571 


, 


: ” 4S~ 

for  them  to  avail  themselves  of  the  opportunities  given  by  our  pub- 
lic secondary  schools.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  the  problem  of 
the  high  school  to  offer  curriculums  which  will  meet  the  needs  not 
only  of  the  potential  graduate  but  likewise  of  the  potential  non- 
graduate . 

V Conclusions 

1.  More  girls  than  boys  entered  high  school,  and  a larger  percent- 
age of  girls  than  boys  graduated. 

3.  Slightly  over  one  half  (54.3  per  cent)  of  the  entering  pupils 
were  eliminated. 

3.  The  elimination  was  greatest  at  the  end  of  the  second  and 
fourth  semesters. 

4.  The  lo 3 s in  pupils  shown  by  cumulative  percentages  is  very  simi- 
lar to  that  of  O'Brien's  study. 

5.  The  morale,  location,  and  general  ideals  of  the  elementary 
school  constitute  important  factors  in  the  length  of  time  pu- 
pils remain  in  high  school. 

6.  The  pupils  of  American  fathers  show  a lower  percentage  of  elim- 

2 

ination  in  this  study  than  in  Van  Denburg's.  The  Swedish 
people,  who  comprise  about  one  half  of  Rockford's  population, 
have  the  best  record  of  any  large  foreign  group  30  far  as  elim- 
ination i3  concerned. 

7.  The  age  at  entrance  for  boy3  of  the  whole  class,  14  years  and 
7 months,  was  on  an  average  3 months  more  than  that  for  girls. 

■^O'Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures. 

£Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of  Students  of 
-uolic  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 


' 


. 


. 


50 

14  years  and  4 months.  As  a group  the  median  age  of  14  years 
and  6 months  compares  favorably  with  that  of  other  large  school 

systems . 

8.  Since  the  average  age  of  boys  who  were  eliminated  was  4 months 
more  than  for  the  group  of  boys,  and  since  the  average  age  for 
the  girls  eliminated  was  5 months  more  than  for  the  group  of 
girls,  age  at  entrance  is  a factor  in  determining  elimination. 

9.  The  compulsory  school  attendance  law  has  an  effect  on  elimina- 
tion. Its  enforcement  undoubtedly  was  responsible  for  as  high 
a median  age  at  leaving  of  16  years  and  1 month.  However,  one 
third  of  the  201  pupils  eliminated  were  in  school  after  their 
sixteenth  birthdays. 

10.  In  general  the  pupils  of  parents  whose  occupation  requires  the 
most  education  stay  in  school  the  longest. 

11.  From  a study  of  the  mental  abilities  of  eliminated  pupils  as 
shown  by  the  results  of  intelligence  test3,  it  was  found  that 
about  twice  as  many  in  the  lower  quartile  were  eliminated  as 
were  eliminated  in  any  other  quartile. 

12.  From  the  office  records  the  five  most  important  reasons  for 
leaving  high  school  were:  (1)  to  earn  money  immediately;  (2) 
failures  in  high  school  subjects;  (3)  general  dislike  for 
school;  (4)  work  to  support  family;  and  (5)  'poor  health. 

13.  As  indicated  by  the  returned  questionnaires,  the  five  mo3t  im- 
portant reasons  for  leaving  school  vie  re:  (1)  to  earn  money  im- 
mediately; (2)  work  to  support  family;  (3)  poor  health;  (4)  gen- 
eral dislike  for  school;  and  (5)  failures  in  high  school  sub- 
jects. 

14.  The  longer  a pupil  stays  in  school,  the  greater  is  his  desire 


, 


' 


51 

for  more  education.  Over  half  of  the  replies  from  eliminated 
pupils  shows  that  they  sought  more  education  in  night,  continu- 
ation, and  correspondence  schools,  and  business  colleges. 

15.  Marriage  is  hastened  by  elimination  from  school  but  is  not  of 
much  importance  as  a cause  of  elimination. 

16.  There  is  a genuine  interest  for  mors  education  among  the  indi- 
viduals of  the  eliminated  group. 

17.  So  far  as  loss  of  parents  is  concerned,  the  eliminated  group 
lost  fewer  parents  than  the  graduate  group;  so  loss  of  parents 
cannot  be  considered  important  in  this  study. 

18.  The  indifference  of  one  or  both  parents  with  regard  to  a 
child’s  graduation  from  high  school  is  an  important  cause  of 
elimination. 

IS.  The  pupils  who  were  eliminated  are  now  engaged  in  occupations 
less  desirable  than  those  of  the  graduates. 

20.  During  the  fifth  year  after  entrance  in  high  school,  the  elimi- 
nated group  wa3  earning  about  the  same  amount  of  money  as  the 
graduate  group.  However,  since  a great  many  of  the  graduates 
were  in  college,  they  could  not  be  counted  as  wage  earners  yet. 

21.  The  eliminated  group  came  from  larger  families  than  the  gradu- 
ates. This  is  especially  ture  of  the  eliminated  girls. 

22.  With  regard  to  subjects  studied,  the  likes  and  dislikes  of  the 
pupils  were  generally  for  the  same  subjects  with  the  exception 
that  the  like3  of  the  eliminated  group  were  for  the  more  prac- 
tical ones.  Both  groups  showed  stronger  likes  than  dislikes. 

23.  Dislike  for  teachers  may  be  of  slight  influence  in  elimination 
but  probably  due  to  the  fact  that  in  a large  high  school,  pu- 
pils have  many  teachers,  the  questionnaires  indicate  that  most 


" 


* 


52 


pupils  have  no  strong  dislike  for  their  teachers. 

24.  So  far  as  owning  a home  is  concerned,  77  per  cent  of  the  gradu- 
ated group  and  64  per  cent  of  the  eliminated  group  were  thus 
favored.  The  difference  shows,  of  course,  that  the  graduated 
group  had  an  advantage  in  home  conditions,  although  hut  a 
slight  one. 

25.  The  graduated  group  paid  slightly  higher  rentals  than  the  elim- 
inated group  hut  the  difference  is  not  great. 

26.  Of  the  graduates  23  per  cent  would  select  different  courses  if 
they  went  through  school  again,  and  about  32  per  cent  of  the 
eliminated  group  would  choose  differently.  The  fact  that  a 
pupil  selected  the  wrong  course  would  make  the  chances  for  his 
early  elimination  greater. 

27.  Death  caused  6 per  cent  of  the  elimination. 

28.  Removal  from  the  city  caused  22  per  cent  of  the  elimination. 


53 


VI  Bibliography 

1.  Barrows,  Alice  P.,  Report  of  Vocational  Guidance  Survey 
(New  York  City),  Public  Education  Association,  New  York 
City,  Bulletin  No.  9,  1912. 

2.  Bonner,  H.  R.,  Statistics  of  Public  High  Schools,  1917-18, 
Bulletin  No.  19,  1920,  United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

3.  Counts,  George  S.,  The  Population  of  the  Private  Second- 
ary School,  School  and  Society,  Vol.  15,  p.  571. 

4.  King,  Irving,  The  High  School  Age. 

5.  O’Brien,  Francis  P.,  The  High  School  Failures. 

6.  The  Money  Value  of  Education,  Bulletin  No.  22,  1917, 

United  States  Bureau  of  Education. 

7.  Van  Denburg,  Joseph  K.,  Causes  of  the  Elimination  of 
Students  of  Public  Secondary  Schools  of  New  York  City. 


